1. Field
This application relates to building structures, specifically to an easily installed user-friendly assembly system which combines substructures or substrates and building components to form a shade or activity structure.
2. Prior Art
Usually an outdoor shade or activity structure is constructed of horizontal and vertical wood members which are fastened together with nails or bolts and nuts. Common names of these structures are pergolas, arbors, trellises, gazebos, overheads, lath houses, bowers, armadas, awnings, porticos, and greenhouses, as well as others. Such shade structures (hereinafter pergolas) are exposed to the environment and often need regular annual maintenance that is costly as well as a nuisance.
Plastic, wood, composite, and metal materials, for example, have been used in the past for the construction of pergolas, but the method of connection and layout requirements of such pergolas increase the difficulty for a proper and user-friendly assembly. Previous structures took a long time to install with quality structural components. Also the components did not attach sequentially and uniformly.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,586,053 to Snyder (1926) shows a metal beam with a groove configuration where a bolt can be slid down the groove and a wood board can be attached for construction purposes. This arrangement is very limited due to its archaic bolt-using installation approach, which is complicated and thereby increases the ever escalating cost of construction projects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,214 to Lambert (1985) shows a pergola with a top comprising wood strips aligned in parallel with a bottom planar face fastened together with nails. The wood and nail fastening system has obvious ongoing maintenance problems, often leading to dry-rot and replacement. Also it does not provide an accurate method for placement and attachment of parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,545 to Hara (1972) shows a binding device for fastening two plates together but has little binding capability due to its apparent shape.
Other existing pergolas with structural components and connectors suffer from a number of other disadvantages:                (a) They are difficult to install and erect.        (b) They use archaic fastening methods, so preciseness of layout was not possible.        (c) Previous structural stiffeners did not incorporate a straightforward approach for interconnecting the parts.        
Insofar as I am aware, all existing pergola systems are so difficult to assemble that most residential home owners cannot install them in an affordable, efficient manner without professional help.